Mavericks at Jazz, TNT, 10:30pm: I don't know what's going on in Utah, but the Jazz have the best record in the 2012 calendar year. They have gone 8-1 over the past two and a half weeks. Then again, have you seen their schedule? The Jazz have only three road games the entire month of January. Three! And so far this month they've gotten to play teams like the Hornets, the Bucks, the Warriors, the Cavaliers, and the Nyets, plus a Clippers squad that had just lost Chris Paul and hadn't adjusted to playing without him yet. I'm not calling it fool's gold (this does seem like a solid team, after all), but I'm just putting that caveat out there.

All The Other Games:

Hornets at Rockets, 8:00pm: Hornets guard Jarrett Jack recently said "We've just got to make better basketball plays." Well, that might help you win basketball games more than making better football plays or baseball plays I suppose. Good thinking, Jarrett Jack.

I was halfway through writing a comment on how shitty Ron Ar- erm, Metta World Peace is playing this season, but then I read that he has back and achilles' tendon issues. Ouch, man. Getting old is a bastard.

Still: no excuse for shooting 7.4% from 3 point range. I think Shaq could shoot that percentage from 3. Injuries or not: you should hit more than 7% of your treys- or else just pass the fucking ball. Mark Jackson has something he wants to tell you, Metta...

Rockets scored 8 pts in 15 minutes, Q4 + first 3 minutes of OT. After Houston scored 58 in 1st half, they simply stopped playing, in those 15 min they went from +12 to -5. They played like they're actually payed to lose ... more precise, they looked like this seasons' Washington Generals.Still Rockets won in the end (7-0 in last 2 minutes of OT) . Sorry, Hornets lost again - there was no winner today, it just happened that one of teams was more determined to lose. Hornets. Again. Last 5 possessions: Jason Smith turnover, Jarett Jack missed three, Jarett Jack shot blocked, Jarett Jack turnover, Belinelli missed shot. Guess Hornets are still in quest for "better basketball plays". Good luck with that.

Lakers @ HeatIt was lose-lose situation for me = either LeBron wins, either Kobe wins. I watched because of Eddy. No good could come out of that game, evil forces were destined to score tonight. We lost that battle ... but we shall not _________But it had its moments. Like Battier shutting down Kobe in 1st half. And Metabolic-Piece slapping LeBron, then during continuation McBob elbowing him in the other cheek. Douche didn't respond peacefully.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QkMXw-vOTg

@Kazam: "Safe to say the addition of Shaq to Inside the NBA is analogous to adding Scrappy Doo to Mystery Inc."

Dude. +1

Can we get a proactive "this is why you fail" for inside the NBA? Way to destroy great chemistry, TNT. Oh, and Barkley is an awful game analyst. That's not his metier.

OK, to be fair it seemed like adding a known character like Shaq would be nothing but awesome. In practice it was terrible. Wait, we've got one of each guy: straight white guy, gushing Kenny, and mumbling Charles saying ridiculous shit. Did we we need another fat guy mumbling ridiculous shit? (Granted, Barkley is becoming non-fat through Man Weight Watchers-disturbing at multiple levels) It's worth noting that it took Barkley years to go from obnoxious retiree to lovable cut up. Should we wait for Shaq to do the same? Bad call.

It's like the formation of the "supergroup" Asia: take stud musicians from a variety of bands, throw them together, and watch the awful. Rock n' Rawful?}